Gordon Brown has pledged to work with the TV, advertising and games industries to reach a consensus on the issue of violence in the media and potentially introduce voluntary controls.

Gordon Brown has pledged to work with the TV, advertising and
games industries to reach a consensus on the issue of
violence in the media and potentially introduce voluntary
controls.

As reported by the
Guardian, Brown was speaking at his monthly press
conference. He stated, "Where there is pornographic or
violent material, any parent is going to be concerned.

"This is not the Government telling people what they should
do... This is society reaching a conclusion with all those
people involved about what are the legitimate boundaries.

Brown continued, "I think we have got to look at this as a
society. I hope this is one of the areas where there can be
common ground between all parties. I think you need to review
this with a large number of representative groups, from
parents, from the different industries itself and from other
areas of public life."

The Prime Minister's comments come just days after he
announced
the launch of a Government review which will focus on the
way violence in the media affects children. It will be
conducted by the Department for Children, Schools and
Families, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The initial announcement raised concerns amongst gamers and
the industry regarding potential censorship of videogames -
but Brown's latest comments seem designed to allay these
fears.

"I am not interested in censorship at all, but I think we do
need rules governing some aspects of the Internet and videos
where children are involved," he stated.

"This is not an area where you can proceed, in my view,
without trying to establish both what the boundaries are and
what is the consensus you can build around these boundaries."

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